EcoPenguin , the world’s first carbon offsetting platform in the cryptocurrency space, is partnering with the non-profit Carbon Offsets to Alleviate Poverty , the first carbon offset provider to accept all major cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin currently accounts for 1% of global electricity consumption — as much as entire countries – and it’s still in its infancy and growing rapidly.
Many hedge funds engage in philanthropy by establishing their own foundations and using them to distribute their millions to nonprofit organizations.
Ethereum has the next largest footprint, with annual emissions of about 46 Mt of CO2, and 100 kg per transaction .
“EcoPenguin advocates shifting to PoS as the best near-term path to decarbonization, but it won’t happen immediately, and not everyone will do it,” said EcoPenguin co-founder Joshua Aakash.“Before long we may also see a carbon tax of $40-$60 a tonne on major energy consumers, which might get reluctant crypto actors to take lowering their emissions seriously.
A lot of cryptocurrency offsetting activity today is speculative, and/or it converts carbon credits into tokens and keeps them tied up on the blockchain for years, as opposed to the tried-and-true approach of permanently retiring credits on existing carbon registries.
COTAP’s carbon offsets counteract carbon emissions with tree planting, agroforestry, and forest protection operations in Nicaragua, Uganda, India, Fiji, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Plan Vivo stipulates that rural communities must own the carbon offset projects, and also that they must receive at least 60% of the revenues the projects generate.
EcoPenguin is also designing a“green swap” mechanism, analogous to a tiny, voluntary crypto carbon tax, which allows users to swap tokens and add a small, fixed amount to each transaction for carbon offsetting.
individuals don’t pay capital gains tax on cryptocurrency used to purchase COTAP offsets, and depending on their income level and whether or not they itemize, they may also get an income tax deduction.
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